Susan Park, head of the Boston Preservation Alliance, tells GlobeSt.com that members of the non-profit organization will meet next Wednesday to discuss the Mayor's plans.
"In today's world, is City Hall the most efficient building going? Probably not, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have architectural significance," says Park, adding that she expects the alliance to issue a statement on its position following next week's meeting.
Architect David Fixler, a principal with Einhorn Yaffe Prescott and president of the New England Chapter of Docomomo, an organization that promotes the documentation and conservation of buildings considered to be part of the modern movement, tells GlobeSt.com that members are concerned the structure, once hailed as one of the most significant buildings in the country, will be destroyed.
"This is a building that has always had its troubles but it has a place in history," says Fixler, noting that the building and the surrounding plaza has hosted everything from anti-war and desegregation demonstrations to summertime concerts during its 40-year history.
Fixler, who has worked on the building, says the structure has always been treated as a historic building by preservation groups, the Boston Landmarks Commission and the National Trust.
"It has become Boston's great public gathering space. In that sense, it has become the locus of civic life," Fixler says.
But the building also has architectural significance, he notes. An award-winning building that has long been considered an architectural marvel by architects, City Hall was named one of the 10 most significant buildings in the United States in the mid-1970s by members of the American Institute of Architects, Fixler says. Today, it remains an example of classic modernist style.
Fixler says he expects Docomomo will take a position on the building's sale in hopes of preserving the structure that he says remains symbolic of Boston's rebirth as a world class city.
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